JP3427083B2 - Library device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a library device such as a magnetic tape and an optical disk, and more particularly, when a cartridge medium is loaded into a loading / unloading mechanism and the cartridge medium is picked from the loading / unloading mechanism by an accessor, a plurality of loadings are performed. The present invention relates to a library device that detects the presence or absence of a cartridge medium at an outlet and enables a pick operation of an accessor at high speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional library apparatus of this type will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional library apparatus 40, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing details of the charging / discharging mechanism 42 in FIG.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the library device 40 includes a housing 1 and a cartridge medium 1 in the housing 1.
2 for charging or discharging the cartridge medium 12 to the outside of the housing 1, a plurality of cells 14 arranged on the inner wall of the housing 1 for storing the cartridge medium 12, and a rail 3 fixed in the housing 1. And rail 3 supported by rail 3
The accessor 2 that moves above, and the cartridge medium 12 provided in the accessor 2 to the cell 14 or the loading / unloading mechanism 4
2 has a picker mechanism 45 for performing a picking operation for storing and holding the cartridge medium 12 and a putting operation for storing the cartridge medium 12 in the cell 14 or the loading / unloading mechanism 42. The loading / unloading mechanism 42 mounts and stores the cartridge medium 12 therein. A plurality of charging / discharging ports 11, a door 7 that covers the charging / discharging port 11 on the outer side of the housing 1, an open / close button 8 for opening / closing the door 7, and a charging / discharging port 11 on the inner side of the housing 1. The shutter 43 is slidable.

Further, the shutter 43 is positioned to cover the inside of the housing 1 of the loading / unloading port 11 when the cartridge medium 12 is loaded into the loading / unloading mechanism 42 from the outside of the housing 1, and the housing of the cartridge medium 12 being loaded. 1 a position where the accessor 2 slides when the accessor 2 takes out the cartridge medium 12 from the loading / unloading mechanism 42 to expose the inside of the housing 1 of the loading / unloading port 11 (the state shown in FIG. 4). The picked cartridge medium 12 is picked up by the picker mechanism 45.

Further, the picker mechanism 45 includes the accessor 2
A picker hand 5 that moves and positions in the vertical direction (Z direction in FIG. 3) to perform a pick and put operation of the cartridge medium 12, a finger 6 that sandwiches and holds the cartridge medium 12, and a cartridge medium of the input / output port 11. It is composed of an optical sensor for detecting the presence or absence of twelve.

Next, the operation of the library device 40 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The operation of housing the cartridge medium 12 from the outside of the housing 1 in the cell 14 inside the housing 1 will be described.

First, when the user (operator) presses the open / close button 8 of the door 7, the insertion / ejection mechanism 42 which detects that the open / close button 8 is pressed has the shutter 43 as the insertion / ejection port inside the housing 1. After sliding 11 in the closing direction to close the input / output port 11, the door 7 is opened.

When the door 7 is opened, the user inserts an arbitrary quantity of the cartridge medium 12 into an arbitrary position of the inserting / ejecting port 11. The inserted medium 12 is the cartridge medium 12 being inserted inside the housing 1. 4 to prevent falling to
It stops when it is pushed to the position 3.

When the cartridge medium 12 is completely loaded,
The user closes the door 7. The loading / unloading mechanism 42, which detects that the door 7 is closed, uses the shutter 43 to load / unload the shutter 1.
Slide 1 in the opening direction.

Next, the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 45 are
Under the control of an accessor control unit (not shown), the optical sensor 41 is positioned at a position corresponding to a constant insertion / ejection port 11, and the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 is detected. If the cartridge medium 12 is present, the picker mechanism 45 is used. The fingers 6 sandwich and hold the cartridge medium 12, and the picker hand 5 takes out the picking operation, and then the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 45 move to a position corresponding to a predetermined cell 14 provided in the housing 1. After being positioned, the picker hand 5 of the picker mechanism 45 is operated in the cell direction to release the finger 6 which holds the cartridge medium 12 and holds the cartridge medium 12.
Put operation to store 2 in the cell.

When the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 45 are positioned, the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 is detected by the optical sensor 41. If the cartridge medium 12 is not present, the presence of the cartridge medium 12 is detected by the optical sensor 41. Accessor 2 and picker mechanism 4 to another input / output port 11
The operation of moving and positioning 5 is repeated.

Therefore, in the picking operation for taking out the cartridge medium 12 from the loading / unloading port 11, a plurality of loading / unloading ports 1 are detected until the presence of the cartridge medium 12 is detected.
1 is searched sequentially, so accessor 2 and picker mechanism 45
It takes time to move and position the device, and the larger the loading / discharging mechanism 42, the longer the search time.

[0015]

As described above,
In the conventional library device, after positioning the accessor and picker mechanism at a position corresponding to the input / output port, the presence / absence of the cartridge medium is detected by the optical sensor, and the input / output ports are sequentially searched until the presence of the cartridge medium is detected. However, there is a problem in that it takes time to pick out the cartridge medium from the loading / unloading port, and the total operation time until the cartridge medium is housed in the cells inside the casing becomes long.

An object of the present invention is to check the presence / absence of cartridge media at a plurality of loading / unloading ports in advance when the cartridge media is loaded into the loading / unloading mechanism and the picker mechanism of the accessor picks up the cartridge media from the loading / unloading mechanism. The object is to provide a library device which can be detected and can speed up the pick operation of the accessor.

[0017]

A library apparatus according to the present invention includes a housing, a loading / unloading mechanism for loading or unloading a cartridge medium into or out of the housing, and a cartridge medium disposed on an inner wall of the housing. A plurality of cells to be stored, a rail fixed in the housing, an accessor supported by the rail and moving on the rail, and a pick operation for storing and holding the cartridge medium provided in the accessor from the cell or the loading / unloading mechanism. The loading / unloading mechanism has a plurality of loading / unloading ports for loading and storing the cartridge medium, and a picker mechanism for carrying out a put operation for storing the cartridge medium in the cell or the loading / unloading mechanism, and a loading / unloading port on the outside of the housing. A door that covers the door, an open / close button for opening and closing the door, a shutter that covers the opening / closing port on the inside of the housing and is slidable, and a shutter. And having a sensor provided.

The sensor is characterized by detecting the presence / absence of a cartridge medium at the loading / unloading port.

The sensor is characterized in that it detects the presence / absence of a cartridge medium in all the insertion / ejection ports during the sliding operation of the shutter.

The sensor is characterized in that it is arranged in the vertical direction so as to correspond to the charging / discharging port.

The sensor is an image sensor or a light reflection type sensor.

The light reflection type sensor is characterized by being a laser sensor or a combination sensor of a light emitting diode and a phototransistor.

The shutter covers the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading port when the cartridge medium is loaded into the loading / unloading mechanism from the outside of the housing to prevent the cartridge medium being loaded from dropping into the housing, and the accessor loading / unloading. When the cartridge medium is taken out from the mechanism, a sliding operation is performed to expose the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading port, and the loaded cartridge medium is picked by the accessor.

The shutter is characterized in that it can slide laterally.

The picker mechanism is characterized by having a picker hand for picking and putting the cartridge medium, and fingers for sandwiching and gripping the cartridge medium.

The charging / discharging port is arranged in a rectangular shape.

The cartridge medium is a magnetic tape cartridge medium or an optical disc cartridge medium.

[0028]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an embodiment of a library apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a library apparatus 20 of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of the loading / unloading mechanism 10 in FIG. The conventional library device 4
The same components as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 indicating 0 are indicated by the same reference numerals.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the library device 20 includes a housing 1 and a cartridge medium 1 in the housing 1.
A loading / discharging mechanism 10 for loading 2 or discharging the cartridge medium 12 to the outside of the housing 1, a plurality of cells 14 arranged on the inner wall of the housing 1 for storing the cartridge media 12, and a rail 3 fixed in the housing 1. And rail 3 supported by rail 3
An accessor 2 that moves up, and a cartridge medium 12 provided in the accessor 2 into a cell 14 or a loading / unloading mechanism 1
The picker mechanism 15 performs a pick operation of taking out from 0 and storing / holding the cartridge medium 12 and a put operation of storing the cartridge medium 12 in the cell 14 or the loading / unloading mechanism 10. The loading / unloading mechanism 10 mounts and stores the cartridge medium 12 therein. A plurality of charging / discharging ports 11 arranged in a rectangular shape, a door 7 for covering the charging / discharging port 11 on the outer side of the housing 1, an open / close button 8 for opening / closing the door 7, and a charging on the inner side of the housing 1. The shutter 9 is configured to cover the discharge port 11 and be slidable, and an image sensor 13 provided on the shutter for detecting the presence / absence of the cartridge medium 12 in the discharge port 11. The image sensor 13 corresponds to the discharge port 11. Vertically arranged,
The presence / absence of the cartridge medium 12 in all the insertion / ejection ports 11 can be detected in accordance with the sliding movement of the shutter 9 in the lateral direction (XX direction in FIG. 2).

The shutter is positioned to cover the inside of the housing 1 of the loading / unloading port 11 when the cartridge medium 12 is loaded into the loading / unloading mechanism 10 from outside the housing 1, and the housing 1 of the cartridge medium 12 being loaded. The accessor 2 prevents the cartridge medium 1 from the loading / unloading mechanism 10 while preventing the cartridge medium 1 from falling inside.
When removing 2, slide in and out 1
1 is in a position where the inside of the housing 1 is exposed (the state shown in FIG. 2), and the loaded cartridge medium 12 is the picker mechanism 1
It is configured to be picked up by 5.

Further, the picker mechanism 15 includes the accessor 2
It is composed of a picker hand 5 which is vertically moved (Z direction in FIG. 1) and positioned to perform picking and putting operations of the cartridge medium 12, and fingers 6 which sandwich and hold the cartridge medium 12.

Next, the operation of the library device 20 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The operation of accommodating the cartridge medium 12 from the outside of the housing 1 into the cell 14 inside the housing 1 will be described.

First, when the user (operator) presses the open / close button 8 of the door 7, the insertion / ejection mechanism 10 which detects that the open / close button 8 has been pressed causes the shutter 9 to open / close the shutter 9 inside the case 1. Slide 11 in the closing direction,
After closing the charging / discharging port 11, the door 7 is opened.

When the door 7 is opened, the user inserts an arbitrary quantity of the cartridge medium 12 into an arbitrary position of the inserting / ejecting port 11. As for the inserted medium 12, the cartridge medium 12 being inserted is inside the housing 1. Shutter 9 to prevent falling
It stops when it is pushed to the position.

When the cartridge medium 12 is completely loaded,
The user closes the door 7. The loading / unloading mechanism 10 which detects that the door 7 is closed causes the shutter 9 to slide in the direction of opening the loading / unloading port 11 while scanning the presence / absence of the cartridge medium 12 in all loading / unloading ports 11 with the image sensor 13. .

By this sliding operation, while the loading / unloading port 11 inside the housing 1 is exposed, the image sensor 13 can read the information on the presence / absence of the cartridge medium in the loading / unloading port 11 and the position information.

Next, the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 15 are
By the control of an accessor control unit (not shown), the cartridge medium 12 is positioned at a position corresponding to the insertion / ejection port 11 in which the cartridge medium 12 exists, and the fingers 6 of the picker mechanism 15 sandwich and hold the cartridge medium 12 and take it out by the picker hand 5. After performing the pick operation, the accessor 2 and the picker mechanism 15 are moved to a position corresponding to a predetermined cell 14 provided in the housing 1 and positioned,
The picker hand 5 of the picker mechanism 15 is operated in the cell direction to release the fingers 6 that sandwich and hold the cartridge medium 12 to perform a put operation for storing the cartridge medium 12 in the cell.

In the above embodiment, the charging / discharging port 1 is used.
Although the image sensor 13 is used as a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of the cartridge medium 12 of No. 1, the light reflection type sensor of the laser sensor or the combination sensor of the light emitting diode and the phototransistor is used as the sensor, and the shutter 9 is vertically arranged. Needless to say, the case where a plurality of vertical insertion / discharge ports 11 are arranged in a row has the same effect as that of the present embodiment and is included in the present invention.

As described above, when the cartridge medium 12 is taken out from the charging / discharging port 11 of the charging / discharging mechanism 10, the sliding operation of the shutter 9 exposes the charging / discharging port 11 inside the housing 1 and the image sensor 13. By detecting the presence / absence of the cartridge medium of the input / output port 11 and the position information, the access medium 2 and the picker mechanism 15 are directly positioned at the input / output port 11 of the cartridge medium 12 so that the cartridge medium 12 is moved. There is an effect that it is possible to shorten the operation time for housing the cells 14 in the housing 1 from outside the housing 1.

[0042]

As described above, in the library apparatus of the present invention, the shutter for preventing the cartridge medium being inserted from falling into the housing is provided with the information on the presence / absence of the cartridge medium at the insertion / ejection port and the position information. The simple configuration of providing an image sensor that detects information and the like speeds up the picking operation that takes out the cartridge medium from the input / output port, and shortens the total operation time until the cartridge medium is stored from the outside of the housing to the cells inside the housing. There is an effect that can be done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a library device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing details of a charging / discharging mechanism in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional library device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing details of a charging / discharging mechanism in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 case 2 accessors 3 rails 5 picker hand 6 fingers 7 doors 8 open / close button 9,43 shutter 10, 42 Input / discharge mechanism 11 input / output port 12 Cartridge media 13 Image sensor 14 cells 15,45 Picker mechanism 20, 40 library device 41 Optical sensor

Claims (11)

(57) [Claims] 1. A housing, a loading / unloading mechanism for loading a cartridge medium into the housing or discharging a cartridge medium outside the housing, and a plurality of cells arranged on the inner wall of the housing for storing the cartridge medium. A rail fixed in the housing, an accessor supported by the rail and moving on the rail, and a pick operation for removing the cartridge medium from the cell or the loading / unloading mechanism and storing / holding the cartridge medium provided in the accessor. A picker mechanism that performs a put operation for storing the cartridge medium in the cell or the loading / unloading mechanism, and the loading / unloading mechanism includes a plurality of loading / unloading ports for loading and loading the cartridge medium, and A door for covering the outside input / output port, an opening / closing button for opening / closing the door, and an inside / outside input / output port for the housing are provided. A library apparatus comprising: a shutter capable of covering and sliding, and a sensor provided on the shutter. 2. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor detects the presence / absence of the cartridge medium in the loading / unloading port. 3. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor detects the presence / absence of the cartridge medium in all of the insertion / ejection ports when the shutter slides. 4. The sensor according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is arranged in a vertical direction corresponding to the charging / discharging port.
6. The library device according to any one of 1. 5. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is an image sensor or a light reflection type sensor. 6. The library device according to claim 5, wherein the light reflection type sensor is a laser sensor or a combination sensor of a light emitting diode and a phototransistor. 7. The shutter covers the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading port when the cartridge medium is loaded into the loading / unloading mechanism from the outside of the housing, so that the cartridge medium being loaded into the housing is exposed. When the accessor removes the cartridge medium from the loading / unloading mechanism to prevent falling, a sliding operation is performed to expose the inside of the housing of the loading / unloading port, and the loaded cartridge medium is picked by the accessor. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the library device is stored. 8. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the shutter is slidable in a lateral direction. 9. The library apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the picker mechanism includes a picker hand for picking and putting the cartridge medium, and a finger for sandwiching and gripping the cartridge medium. 10. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the input / output ports are arranged in a rectangular shape. 11. The library device according to claim 1, wherein the cartridge medium is a magnetic tape cartridge medium or an optical disc cartridge medium.